Neighbours in Balham, south London, alerted the authorities when they saw the cat sitting at the window and feared she may attack their own pets.
Wandsworth Council were also tipped off when Brown emailed the town hall to ask about getting a licence under the DWA Act.
When contacted by officers, Brown said he no longer owned the serval and insisted he was moving to Lambeth, the council said.
Nothing more was heard for six months until another member of the public complained about seeing a wildcat sitting at the window of a property in Roehampton, south-west London.
Animal welfare officers and police visited and questioned Brown, who at that stage insisted the cat was not a serval but another species of less dangerous wildcat.
The animal was removed and rehoused at a specialist wildlife facility.
In 2019, Brown said he was actively trying to get a licence and claimed he only agreed to look after the serval after its previous owner struggled to care for it.
These claims were undermined by Brown’s glowing Facebook endorsements of the Russian company he purchased the cat from, the council said yesterday.
Checks showed a microchip found in her neck had been issued to a company in Russia.
Brown did not turn up for taped interviews with council investigators and did not answer a summons to appear in court. He was charged with keeping a dangerous wild animal without a licence, and convicted in his absence.
He was fined £1,000, ordered to pay £4,000 in prosecution costs and a £181 victim surcharge, and banned from owning any wild animals for two years.
